Vehicles for transportation, other than those vehicles which ride on rails, typically roll along the surface on pneumatic tires which are mounted on wheels.
As is well known in the prior art, these wheels have strength properties that prevent deformation of the wheel shape during normal use, which includes resisting compressive forces exerted by the mounted tires; supporting the vehicle's weight; and encountering potholes, rocks, and other objects/obstacles.
In the prior art, these wheels are usually made of metals, such as iron, steel, or aluminum. These metals provide the necessary strength for the wheels. Also, wheels made from these metals can operate despite the heat generated during operation; either these wheels allow for effective dissipation or they are not significantly affected by any heat build-up.
To fabricate the wheels typically requires stamping sheets of these metals into approximately the desired shape of the wheel and then doing additional shaping of the wheel.
There are various drawbacks to these metal wheels. First, the fabrication process is labor intensive and expensive to accommodate its various steps.
Second, when mass-producing metal wheels, due to typical cost and speed concerns of the fabrication process, there are significant limitations on the possible variations and designs of the wheels. One may fabricate customized wheels at a significantly higher cost.
Third, these metal wheels are relatively heavy. These wheels add noticeably to the vehicle's total weight. Because the energy needed to move the vehicle is directly related to the vehicle's weight, heavy wheels increase the energy needed to operate the vehicle. This results in higher energy costs, and consequently higher operating costs, for the vehicle.
Thus, lighter vehicle wheels are desirable, as long as such wheels retain the strength and heat-resistant characteristics of these metal wheels.
In the prior art, there are numerous devices and methods that have been employed to this decrease the weight of vehicle wheels alone. For example, the wheels have been fabricated from lighter metals or include numerous cutouts to eliminate unneeded material. However, the wheels still need to have the appropriate minimum strength. Thus, using these approaches, the amount of weight that can be eliminated is small.
Similarly, other prior art attempts at producing a lighter vehicle have not focused on modifying the vehicle wheels. In this vein, representative prior art includes the following United States Patents:    Lanker, “Lightweight Electric Vehicle”, U.S. Pat. No. 5,343,973, issued on Sep. 6, 1994; and    Ghidella et al., “Motor Vehicle Body”, U.S. Pat. No. 4,355,841, issued on Oct. 26, 1982.
Thus, there is a need for lighter vehicle wheels, which retain the strength and heat-resistant characteristics of these metal wheels.